Brian!
Well, say what you like about Bob Ruxton, but he never kept you waiting. He was a good man.
Always had time for a chat...
Always bought a round...
The nights I've had on the hit and miss with him...
That kind of behaviour might account for his having been being suspended.
It's a hard thing for a man to be publicly pilloried, after a long and distinguished career...
He's not being pilloried Jack, he's facing charges of negligence and incompetence!
Nobody's perfect, Sandra.
Superintendent Pullman. Shall we go through? Thank you.
So what have you got for us? Back in 2001,
Dr Ruxton found that Bernard Fletcher's fatal injuries
were consistent with a fall at his work place - the Natural History Museum.
The body was cremated, so I'm only working from the original postmortem report, the photos and x-rays. Yep.
What we're looking at is a "struck hoop" pattern -
depression of the skull leading to fractures on the intruded and extruded areas.
To me, that would suggest a blow with a blunt instrument,
rather than a fall onto the kind of flat surfaces present at the scene.
Yeah, but he was a bit pissed?
He had 70 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.
He'd show a loss of inhibitions and be well over the limit for driving.
But it's on the low side for an accident of this kind.
Are you saying that no-one's ever had that amount to drink and fallen down and received such injuries?
I'm saying it's more than likely he was hit on the head.
Thank you. Thanks very much. Thank you.
So, like a whole host of Ruxton's old cases, this one gets re-investigated.
I don't see why we're lumbered with it. It's effectively a new case.
There's close to 100 forensic examinations waiting to be re-looked at.
Strickland's volunteered us to help out. Politics.
So, we going to have a look at the scene, then? Mm-hm.
Oh, the Natural History Museum. Great. Haven't been there for years.
I'll fix up a meeting with the Keeper of Palaeontology, the head of Fletcher's old department.
Excuse my ignorance, but what does a Keeper of Palaeontology actually do?
Very important job. He's responsible for a world-class collection of fossils.
Just like me.
That is what I CALL a crime scene.
The victim's still alive.
Go on, hop in there and grab a statement!
Yeah, go on, go on! OK, listen up.
At the time of his death in 2001,
Bernard Fletcher was a Senior Palaeontologist at the Museum
and he was found by a porter, Barry Drake.
What time was this? 8.00am. Time of death? A very good question,
Jack, because your old chum, Dr Negligence, put it between
midnight and 2.00am. But hey, it's now up for grabs.
It's still being investigated, Sandra.
Innocent until proven guilty. Remember?
Now, Fletcher was wearing evening clothes, right?
Yeah, that's because he'd attended a corporate jolly
the evening before he was found.
So, you can hire this place for a knees up?
It would cost you. The do in question was a dinner
given by the Mondial Fuel Corporation.
When was Fletcher last seen alive?
9.15. Apparently, he had a drop too many, had words with his colleagues
and marched off, saying he had work to do.
When did the bun fight finish?
10.30. So the original investigation, working on Ruxton's time of death,
assumed that everyone had left the premises at the time
he snuffed it, so only took perfunctory statements.
Forensics? Ah, they found no evidence of violence
at the scene and no sign that he'd been pushed from the walkway.
Anything that might have been a murder weapon?
No. Witnesses, other than the guests at the dinner?
Not to the actual death, of course, but there were two staff working in their offices,
a Marie Braden and Mark Slater, but they didn't see or hear anything.
We'll want to talk to them again.
There's also a widow, Diane Fletcher, so Gerry, you and Brian can talk to her.
We'll catch you later. Okey-dokey.
Detective Superintendent Pullman?
Yes. And you must be Madeleine Simmonds. Keeper of Palaeontology.
This is my colleague, Jack Halford. Morning.
I don't understand this investigation.
Bernard Fletcher died accidentally. It was put to rest ten years ago.
The coroner recorded an open verdict, based on a pathology report which has since been reviewed,
so now the case is open again.
Do you know, the last time I saw this, I was with my Dad.
Yes, most people only visit the Museum three times in their lives -
once with parents, once with children and once with grandchildren.
We're constantly working to bring them back more often. How long ago did this Diplodocus walk the Earth?
Strictly speaking, it never did. It's a copy, kindly given to us by our colleagues in the USA, in 1905.
I didn't know that!
So things aren't always as they seem in the museum business?
I believe you have some questions?
My husband died in an accident.
The whole business was quite traumatic enough at the time. It doesn't need raking over now.
Well, sadly Mrs Fletcher, things weren't done to a proper standard
back then and it's our job to do it more thoroughly.
Well, I suppose you'd better come in.
My late husband was a very experienced and dedicated palaeontologist.
His specialism was the study of fossil birds.
That must be really fascinating!
Well, it fascinated him.
But you weren't part of that world?
I was never really invited to take an interest.
Bernard lived for his work.
He spent long hours at the museum, he often worked at weekends.
I looked after the home and the children, when they were little, and then I went back to teaching.
He left us very well provided for.
That's nice.
Did your husband mention any personal or professional problems in the time leading up to his death? No.
Can you think of anyone that might have wanted to harm him?
Bernard was a man of strong views, he spoke his mind.
He was never inhibited about putting peoples' backs up.
But I'd be astonished if he provoked anyone to homicide.
What were these strong views about?
Bernard believed
that living creatures are members of an extended family.
Humans now dominate the ecosystem and they have to be responsible for its welfare.
He believed that industrial civilisation
was destroying the planet and he spoke out on the subject...
..somewhat incessantly.
The night your husband died, he'd been drinking.
Was he a regular heavy drinker?
He was by no means an alcoholic, but I thought he overdid it, on occasion.
My attitude didn't influence him.
That's been very helpful, Diane. Thanks very much.
We may have to talk to you again.
Really? Well, it will have to be soon.
I'm leaving the country next month.
Holiday? Mid-life gap year.
With my new partner.
I hope this business is settled before then.
The original investigation found out that Bernard had had some
argument with his colleagues shortly before his death.
Can you tell us about that? Oh, that was nothing out of the ordinary.
Bernard getting on his high horse after a few.
Did he get on his high horse about anything in particular?
Bernard and I were guests at the dinner. I was a curator at the time.
I was very keen to encourage Mondial Fuel to sponsor the refurbishment of one of our galleries,
which they subsequently did.
Bernard thought, given the industry's environmental record, we shouldn't touch them. How did your hosts feel?
Well, I hope they weren't aware of it.
It was a squabble between museum staff, a storm in a teacup. Honestly.
Two of your staff were working late that night...
Marie Braden and Mark Slater. Could you put us in contact with them?
Yes, Marie still works at the museum,
she has an office in the Darwin Centre.
Mark Slater is no longer with us,
he now works as a dealer in fossils.
I have his card here somewhere.
Does he supply fossils to the museum?
He has offered us some items.
But that's not the way we generally source our acquisitions.
I tell you what pisses me off, Jack,
I was writing the book on forensic pathology when some of these kids were doing their science O-levels.
I know, Bob. You were the best.
Now they're second-guessing my findings, ten years on.
You realise I can't discuss the case?
Of course not. Well, actually, I shouldn't be here talking to you at all, under the circumstances...
I'm not looking for any favours, Jack.
I know I was off the rails a bit, ten years back,
when I lost Sally.
You know how it is.
Oh, yes.
But that was private life,
I never let my professional standards slip.
I hear what you say, Bob.
Do you mind if I carry on with this while we talk?
No, please do.
What is it, exactly?
It's an archaeopteryx,
one of the earliest birds.
Or, from a another point of view, it's a feathered dinosaur.
Bernard Fletcher specialised in fossil birds, didn't he?
Yes.
You must have known him well?
He was my senior colleague, he supervised some of my work.
Were you on good terms with him...personally?
We had a good working relationship.
I respected him as a scientist.
You were working the night he died?
Yes. In this office? No. This is the Darwin building,
it wasn't finished then. My office is in the museum basement.
And it said in your statement
that you didn't see Bernard Fletcher that evening? No, he was having dinner in the hall.
But when he left there he said he was going to do some work, so where was his office?
That was in the basement also. Near you? Not really,
it's quite a big place.
According to your statement,
you said that you didn't see or hear anything out of the ordinary that evening.
any second thoughts about that? I'm really sorry,
I wish I could help you more.
What did you make of that?
A lady very dedicated to science.
All those questions and she could hardly bear
to tear herself away from her work to look us in the eyes.
Are you starting to believe there's a case to investigate?
Oh, I can believe that she could be covering something up about Fletcher.
But that doesn't mean that his death wasn't accidental.
'Hello?' Mr Slater? 'Yes.'
Gerry Standing and Brian Lane. from UCOS. We spoke on the phone.
'On my way.'
Thank you.
Not exactly Bond Street, is it?
Maybe he saves on rent.
Lives above the shop.
Come on inside.
Thank you. Thank you.
Bloody Hell! Gordon Bennett!
Look at this!
This is amazing.
Cos I mean, from the outside... It looks like a junk shop, I know.
Good for security. So you are anxious about security, then?
Well, you can't be too careful.
No, no. Anyone else live up in the flat? Not right now, no.
May I?
It's survived 360 million years, I don't suppose you'll do harm to it.
360 million?!
Well, what is it? It's a trilobite,
shuffled around on the ocean floor. Extinct before dinosaurs.
Hmm, £7.50.
750, actually.
What for a giant woodlouse? Bloody hell!
But this is like works of art.
That's why people want it. "fossil decor", it's big!
Now, if I wanted that on my wall, what would it put me back?
That's an ichthyosaur and I'm asking 250 grand.
Huh! Don't get me wrong, I love this stuff,
but who's spending that kind of money?
Film stars, supermodels, you'd be surprised.
That's individuals,
when you talk about the institutional market -
museums, corporations and so on - the sky's the limit. Go on?
A Tyrannosaurus rex was recovered and auctioned in the States a few years back,
knocked out at 8.4 million bucks.
And I was going to ask you why you left the Museum! Silly question, eh?
There's money to be made.
And I prefer prospecting the Atlas Mountains, or the Arizona Badlands, to being in a museum.
Not really an institutional kind of bloke.
But Bernard Fletcher WAS institutionally minded?
Bernard was very dedicated to the museum, yes.
You told the original investigation that the night he died,
you were working on your own and you didn't see anything out of the ordinary?
That's right. My office was in the basement.
Backstage, as we call it.
Bernard had his accident in the public area.
Well, what happened to Bernard and where is now under investigation.
How well did you know him? Bernard was a bird man, I specialise in dinosaurs.
Well, as you know, Mark, all living things are part of one family, is that not right?
Oh, we knew each other,
we'd meet at palaeontology seminars and staff meetings,
but that's as far as it went.
I wish I could tell you more.
Well, if we think you can, we'll be back.
Thanks very much.
I've got a fossil.
Have you? Yeah.
What of? I dunno really, my old man brought it back after the war.
Said he found it back East.
What's it look like?
Bit if old rock.
You never know, it might be of scientific interest.
I was thinking it might be worth a few quid.
I've been going through Fletcher's CV.
He didn't always work with bird fossils,
he originally did a PhD on microfossils. What are they?
Microfossils are either fossil microorganisms, or microscopic parts of larger animals.
And why is this interesting? I have no idea.
I'll check them out at the museum.
OK. let's see what we've got.
What about the widow?
Well, she got over her grief, that's for sure.
If there ever was any. I've been looking into the probate records.
Fletcher's will left everything to the wife and kids,
including a very handsome payout from a life insurance policy. Really?
According to his phone bills, the most frequently dialled number
on his mobile, in the months before his death, was Marie Braden's.
She was his colleague and he supervised her work.
True, but he never once called her from his home land-line,
which may or may not be significant.
What about issues at work?
Fletcher got up Madeleine Simmonds' nose by slagging off the oil company whose money she was after.
Doesn't seem enough to motivate murder.
No, not on its own.
Quite frankly, there's nothing here that suggests to me that Bob Ruxton didn't get it right.
Your man had a drop too much, fell down and banged his head.
You've made your position clear, Jack.
If we're looking for a motive,
there is shedloads of money in the fossil business. Really?
From what we saw at Slater's place, the museum's collection must be worth billions.
What if he happened upon a scam -
somebody smuggling stuff out of the museum to flog off? What if he was in one?
Wait a minute, it's easy to speculate on possible scams,
but the question we have to ask ourselves is,
did anything go missing from the museum in the period before Fletcher's death?
Right, well, we've got plenty of scenarios.
Tomorrow, let's see if we can stand any of them up.
There's nothing in here remotely like a fossil,
unless you count this salami.
Have you had any luck?
Not for a very long time.
These corridors seem endless.
I've spent my working life in this museum, and there are parts I've never even visited.
The basement is our storage area.
I wanted you to get a sense
of what's involved when you ask whether anything is missing.
Yes, I understand that there are lots of items here.
80 million. 80 million?! Give or take the odd hundred thousand or so, nobody's really sure.
So the question of whether anything is missing is really rather metaphysical.
Point taken.
Let's restrict ourselves to Bernard Fletcher, Mark Slater and Marie Braden.
I'm sure it's possible to check out what they were working on.
It would be a time-consuming diversion
from the museum's PROPER functions.
Yes, but do it anyway, please.
'Scuse me, would you be Barry, by any chance?
That's right, who's asking?
Brian Lane and Gerry Standing.
We're investigators with the Metropolitan Police. Oh, yeah?
Yeah, we're investigating the death of Bernard Fletcher.
Now, according to our records, you found the body.
That's right.
You gave a full statement to the original inquiry.
You said you found the body at 8am, checked for signs of life,
immediately called security, and then the police arrived. Yeah.
Is there anything you want to add? You know, looking back?
No, not really.
Poor old Bernard.
Oh, you knew him, then? I mean, more than just a regular face?
Allow me.
What's this all about, Jack?
Something here might interest you.
I've been checking those microfossils that Fletcher used to study.
I tell you one thing, you need a powerful microscope to see them at all.
This is what you get using an electron microscope.
And? Well, if you find certain microfossils,
and they show signs of deformation through heating,
it's a good indication of gas and oil deposits.
Which gives us a whole new line of inquiry. Mondial Fuel.
Worth pursuing though, isn't it?
Oh, I don't know.
Probably turn out that he just had one too many and fell on his head, eh, Jack?
There may be certain things in this case that need investigation.
But that still doesn't make it murder.
You spend all day fetching and carrying, and pushing a trolley, it makes you invisible.
They get so used to you popping in and out, they carry on as if you're not there.
So you know more of what goes on than they realise?
Who's fallen out,
who's pissed off cos someone else got the promotion,
who's at it with who.
Who's kipping in the basement cos they got kicked out by their other half!
So what do you know about Bernard Fletcher?
Well, I'm not that surprised you've re-opened the investigation.
At the time, I thought, "Hello, old Doc Fletcher's sins have found him out!"
What are you saying?
Well, I thought a jealous husband's caught up with him, and shoved him off the walkway.
Then they said it was an accident.
Who did you have in mind?
That would have been the problem, narrowing down the field!
So old Bernard was a bit of a bonking man, was he?
Dr Fletcher?
He was an artist. And he could pick 'em.
How do you mean?
Well, he went with visiting scholars,
staff on secondment from other museums, research students.
What I'm saying is, he always made sure there was a built-in get out.
They'd automatically move on elsewhere, so things didn't get sticky when the magic wore off.
Wish I'd thought of that one.
But there are none of Dr Fletcher's ex-girlfriends still at the museum?
Well...
Come on, Barry, don't keep us in suspense.
Well, it's one thing talking about Doc Fletcher.
I don't want to make trouble for someone who's got their life to get on with.
Oh, come on, we're not going to go to the tabloids with this.
The only people we'll share with are those who need to know.
Mm, well...
And we are still buying the beer.
Well, don't go giving Dr Braden a bad time.
She's a nice woman, you can't say that about everybody round here.
Marie Braden? She's married with kids.
She wasn't then. She was fancy free.
After she gave Mark Slater the old heave-ho.
Marie and Slater were an item?
Yeah, but she give him the boot, sensible woman.
So Fletcher had a connection with the oil industry?
The museum does a lot of consultancy work with oil and gas companies,
Bernard might have been involved in his early days. Before my time.
Maybe with Mondial Fuel?
I've no idea. By the time I knew Bernard he'd switched to avian palaeontology.
Because he didn't like what the oil industry is doing to the planet?
That's a reasonable assumption.
Wotcha! We got a result on Fletcher's love life.
He was at it with Marie Braden.
That's progress!
Not just a casual naughty. A serious affair.
And not only that, she and Slater used to be an item!
I'm going to have to get her in for an interview.
Coffee, Gerry? Yeah I will, thanks, I'll just mark up the board.
What's that?
A whole new line of inquiry.
The original investigation team didn't pay much attention to the formal dinner,
because Dr Ruxton had told them Fletcher died after all the guests had gone home.
We're now told, of course, he could have died earlier.
But most importantly, we now know that Fletcher's earlier work was connected with oil exploration.
What's the SP on the corporate jolly?
Oh, that was organised by a Sarah Knowles
who was the Personal Assistant of Mondial Fuel's then Director of European Operations, James Winslow.
Better get this Sarah Knowles in and all then.
Yes, well she's not Sarah Knowles any more.
In 2002 James Winslow divorced his wife and married her.
Bloody hell.
Yeah, I could be comfortable here.
It'd cost you.
It last changed hands for £7.5 million.
At least I'd have room for my bits and pieces.
Ammonites!
Ah, fantastic.
Are you a collector?
No, no, I've only recently taken an interest, after seeing Mark Slater's shop.
Have you done business with him?
Er, yes, yes, he's one of the dealer's we've used.
He used to work in the museum, you know?
Uh-huh.
You want to talk about the night of the dinner, right?
Yes.
Sit down, please.
Thank you.
Oh. Would you like a drink?
No, it's a bit early in the day for me.
And I don't, thank you.
You gave a statement to the original investigators saying
you didn't notice anything out of the ordinary on the night. That's right.
Would you like to add anything to that?
No.
Did you know Bernard Fletcher?
We were introduced the night of the dinner.
But we weren't sitting near him, so we didn't converse.
Were you aware of an argument between him and his colleagues?
No, sorry.
This is a little bit personal, I'm afraid, but James Winslow
divorced his first wife and married you within a year or so of that dinner.
Now may I ask, were you in a relationship at that time?
Sure.
He was shagging the hired help.
Bit of a cliche, but that's life, don't you find?
Then when you married James you gave up being a PA?
Well, we're not short of the odd bob.
And once or twice a year,
I work as a tour manager on long-haul holidays.
Where to?
Vietnam, China.
So after a bit of a jet-set life,
you still find ways to keep yourself amused?
Amused?
Yeah,
frequently I'm in hysterics.
Thank you very much.
I get the impression she's not living happily ever after.
I tell you what, I know a desperate housewife when I see one.
She is well up for it!
I bow to your expertise, Gerry.
This is James Winslow. Thank you.
Hello there. Hello. Sandra Pullman.
Very good to meet you.
And this is Jack Halford. Hello.
How do you do? Do sit down. Thank you.
As you know, we're reinvestigating the death of Dr Bernard Fletcher.
Yes. I don't think I can help you much.
I only met Dr Fletcher the night before his body was found.
Sadly I never got a chance to do more than exchange greetings with him.
Were you aware of Dr Fletcher's hostile attitude to the oil industry?
We have no quarrel with critics who stay within the parameters of the law.
But...that's not strictly my department.
Samantha, could you ask Michael to join us.
Our Head of Security's the man to talk to.
Oh, OK, thank you.
Michael Ratcliffe.
Detective Superintendent Pullman,
and Jack Halford, from UCOS.
I don't think our paths ever crossed, in the job. I was in Diplomatic Protection.
Oh, I've always been a bit nervous around firearms.
I wasn't nervous enough.
Please.
Michael, Dr Bernard Fletcher.
Died at the Natural History Museum?
That's right.
Were you at the dinner that evening, Mr Ratcliffe?
No. Not high enough on the food chain!
Michael, did Dr Fletcher ever appear on our radar
as a security threat, subversive, or such like?
Not in my time.
Dr Fletcher's career
began in the study of microfossils.
That's highly significant for the oil industry, I believe?
Certainly.
Did he ever work for you as a consultant?
Not that we're aware of.
We'd check that in your records.
By all means. Michael, can you facilitate that?
Certainly. As long as you don't mind spending some time wading through our archives.
No record of Fletcher working for Mondial Fuel,
so the connection to the oil industry looks like a dead end.
I'm not so sure.
I wouldn't trust that lot as far as I could throw them. No.
Now listen, this may not have anything to do with the oil industry, as such,
but there is a connection.
Sarah Winslow is a customer of Slater's fossil business.
May mean something, may not.
And maybe not just a customer.
We've been talking to the Art and Antiques Squad.
They've got Criminal Intelligence on Slater.
He was deported from China in 1998.
When he was still at the museum?
The Chinese accused him of trying to export fossil dinosaur eggs without a licence.
Bit of a diplomatic incident.
The museum chose to believe Slater,
but Art and Antiques reckons he's been in to some dodgy deals since.
Slater gets slung out of China
and now Sarah leads up-market tour parties there.
China's one of the great fossil sources,
all those alluvial rivers,
flooding over millions of years and burying all kinds of creatures.
Over time this turns to stone,
and produces these beautifully-preserved specimens.
So? Bernard called me, talking's not a crime, is it?
No-one's accusing you of a crime, Marie.
But you have been misleading us, haven't you?
We have information that you and Bernard Fletcher
were in a relationship at the time of Fletcher's death.
Now we want to get an honest answer from you.
But if we're not satisfied, then we have to try to confirm
or disprove the story by talking to more people.
I have a husband, children. I'm in another life now!
All the more reason why we should get the truth from you, without spreading the net wider.
I suppose you got all this from that creepy porter, Barry.
I told Bernard it was a mistake giving him drinks and tips and Christmas boxes.
So you and Bernard WERE lovers?
Yes.
Was it serious?
Perfectly serious.
I wasn't the Palaeontology Department bicycle!
But Bernard is a married man, with children.
Bernard and I had planned a future together.
He'd told his wife he wanted a divorce.
Well, thank you for being honest with us, Marie.
You must have been terribly distressed by Bernard's death.
Of course.
So you'll understand how important it is
for us to know the true circumstances of it.
When did you last see him alive?
It was the night he died.
He came to see me after he walked out of the dinner.
This was in your office, in the basement?
Yes.
We know he'd been drinking. Was he badly affected by it?
He was a little flamboyant...
..but he was making perfect sense.
Telling me how disgusted he was there were people in the museum
willing to sell out to those shits in the oil business.
I had heard it all before.
What this means, Marie,
is that you were the last known person to see him alive.
No, Carol.
That thing in the cardboard box
is an SU downdraught carburettor, but that's not what I'm looking for.
No, you can't chuck it away, it could be reconditioned.
Yes, yes, all right, I'll pick it all up when I've got somewhere to store it, all right.
Now listen.
Listen!
What I'm looking for is a fossil.
You had a history with Mark Slater, didn't you?
Oh...
look, Mark and I went out on a couple of dates.
I like the guy, but there was never any future in it.
He was too much of a chancer.
And Mark was working in the museum basement, the night you had your last encounter with Fletcher?
Yes.
Turns out Sarah's a Cambridge graduate.
Posh totty, you'd expect it, wouldn't you?
She was reading sinology.
You're kidding?
I could have asked her why mine gets so blocked up.
Sinology is the study of the people and language of China.
Oh.
She was at the same college, at the same time, as Mark Slater.
Can't stay clear of each other, can they?
Oh, have a look.
Sarah Winslow was done for being an hour over the limit,
in a parking bay opposite Mark Slater's shop.
Maybe he had some fresh trilobites in.
Look at that, three points for speeding, two streets away,
at 11:30 at night.
There's definitely something going on between Sarah Winslow and Slater.
He's giving her one. That's not a crime, is it?
No, but they go back a long way, to university.
They knew each other when Fletcher was killed.
Keep an eye on Slater and then you and I will give Diane Fletcher a pull in the morning, Jack.
Maybe she's been painting us a picture.
We're not going to get anything tonight.
What you looking at? Her car's not on the plot, is it?
No, no. See if you can get me a trace on this licence.
GN54 WXP.
Yeah, all right. Why?
Cos that car's been here longer than we have,
and there's been a bloke behind the wheel all that time.
Shouldn't we go and have a chat?
It's tricky, isn't it?
Probably best to not let on we've clocked him.
Too late, anyway. he's off.
You didn't tell us, or the previous investigation,
that your husband was seeking a divorce.
Well, he didn't need one in the end, did he?
Everything seemed perfectly straightforward,
I saw no point confusing the issue.
If you and your husband had divorced, you'd be a far worse off now.
He died at a very convenient time.
The night my husband died, I was wardrobe mistress at my daughter's school production of The Tempest.
How many witnesses would you like?
There was a lot of money at stake. You could have hired someone. Oh, this is nonsense.
Look, I can perfectly well believe Bernard falling over when he was pissed,
but if you must find someone to blame
how about the man he was trying to get sacked? Who?
Mark Slater.
Bernard was convinced Slater was moonlighting as a fossil dealer while he was working at the museum.
He was on his case, and when Bernard was on your case,
you were in trouble.
Ratcliffe, what's he been up to?
A vehicle registered to Michael Ratcliffe was keeping surveillance last night outside Slater's place.
I always thought Mondial Fuel were tied up with this!
Actually, you didn't always think there was a crime!
After a long and distinguished career a man is entitled to get things arse about face.
This isn't about business.
Slater and Sarah are at it.
Ratcliffe was getting evidence for his governor!
There's more to it than that.
UCOS. Brian Lane speaking.
Diane Fletcher says that her old man wanted to get Slater the sack.
Madeleine Simmonds. Wants you at the museum. Urgently.
I would be very grateful if you didn't touch any of these particular items.
I was very concerned, which is why I called you.
We were checking on the items as you asked. Something's missing?
No, but the labelling has been interfered with. You see this?
Yes. This isn't the real 7531. It's from a different specimen altogether,
there are distinct morphological peculiarities.
We believe you, but what is the significance?
Well, if we can't relate items to their specimen, chaos breaks out!
Hang on. who was handling the item with this label at the time of Fletcher's death?
Bernard himself. It's the tibia of a Dinornis.
An extinct, giant bird.
This is the real 7531. They've been switched!
That would have been in Fletcher's office, would it?
Yes. You could certainly give someone a hefty blow with that.
Maybe we've just ticked the box for method. We'll have to send it off for forensic analysis.
This is all very unfortunate.
I don't know. It's cheered me up no end.
If you're looking for Mark, you've missed him.
Is that right?
Left in a bit of a hurry this morning.
You don't happen to know where's he's gone, do you?
One of his field trips, I suppose.
He had a backpack with him.
Did he say when he'd be back?
Sorry.
Guv'nor, we've got a bit of a problem.
Ok, Gerry. Cheers.
Detective Superintendent Pullman, UCOS.
I want a suspect placed on all watch lists. Ports, airports.
Name of Mark Slater. IC1 male, aged 38.
Detective Superintendent Pullman. Jack Halford. UCOS.
I've talked to your people.
Yeah, now you're going to talk some more. Where's your boyfriend, Sarah?
I don't understand. Mark Slater is a suspect in our murder inquiry. Do you know where he is?
No, no, of course not. Mark's just a business associate.
Make sure your story stands up, we're searching his premises right now.
I've got a warrant for yours, as well.
Could you open that bag, please? Show us what's inside.
Well, there's a thing.
So, what have you got to say about that?
It's a fossil.
No, there's nothing very interesting in the paper files.
All the serious records will be on disk.
Let's take this in then, give it a good going over. Sure.
Listen, listen, boys, mind how you go,
everything in here is worth a fortune.
Your fossil turned up yet?
No, Allison and Carol were a dead loss,
just gave me a load of earache about the junk I'd already left over there.
What about Jane?
Oh, couldn't get an answer out of her at all.
That's a thought. Maybe I'll just pop over there.
Come on then.
See ya, boys.
What is your relationship with Mark Slater?
Oh, Mark and I were students together.
We're old friends.
You're having an affair, aren't you?
No.
Your husband thinks you are.
He's had his man Ratcliffe watching Slater's premises.
I'm not responsible for what goes on in James' head.
You've been having secret meetings with Slater, for long periods, outside of normal working hours.
I don't have "normal working hours", neither does Mark.
What was that skull doing in the boot of your car, Sarah?
Oh, look at that.
It'll take days to get through all this lot.
Well, see if there's anything that refers to Fletcher.
Hello.
An e-mail from Fletcher, addressed to Madeleine Simmonds.
It just says, "For your information".
Dated September 2000.
So Slater was hacking into Fletcher's e-mails.
What are the attachments?
Just called Natural History Museum 01, 02 et cetera.
That skull is a fossil of a possible human ancestor, right?
Would that make it valuable? Priceless.
So what was it doing in the boot of your car?
There's not really an open market for humanoid fossils.
Rock stars don't want them on their walls.
You have to do a deal with an institution.
A museum that's not too fussy about questions of provenance.
Slater handled that side of things, did he?
Yes. And questions of provenance can be very embarrassing, can't they, Sarah?
I understand that the Chinese get very sensitive about their fossil heritage being ripped off.
It's a wonderful source for palaeontologists.
The Chinese know Slater's dodgy.
He wouldn't be allowed back in the country, let alone stand a chance of getting any fossils out.
But you could organise it, as a top of the market tour manager.
Everybody needs to put something aside for the future.
I wouldn't have thought being married to James Winslow you'd have any financial worries.
James made it perfectly clear that a man who marries his mistress creates a job vacancy.
It seemed wise to make my own provisions.
But your association with Mark Slater goes way back before your marriage.
And Slater was suspected of illicit fossil trading by Bernard Fletcher, ten years ago.
Were you involved in that scam?
No.
No, you've got this totally wrong.
Have we? You were at the museum the night Fletcher died.
I don't know anything about Fletcher's death.
And what would Mark Slater know about it? You'd have to ask him.
Oh, we were about to when he disappeared.
Which leaves you, as his accomplice, carrying the can.
Here we go.
Finance! My favourite.
There we go. Customer accounts.
Let's see how much business Sarah was really doing.
Cos I reckon it was just a cover for a nice little game of hide the fossil.
Right, here we go, in the financial year ending 31st March, 2010,
she spent 38,500.
Stroll on!
2009 - 42,000.
Gordon Bennett!
Sarah Winslow's coughed to being involved in a fossil scam with Mark Slater,
but denying any knowledge of Fletcher's death.
Much on Slater's computer?
Shedloads. We've hardly scratched the surface.
Just listen how much Sarah's been spending with Slater over the years.
Another one, 2008 - 35,700.
Blimey, she must own the business at that rate!
How far does this go back?
Well, she opened her customer account in 2002.
She spent 38,500 that financial year.
Maybe she just likes spending her old man's money, it has been known. But hang on...
If you compare like for like items,
Sarah's paying 50% to 70% to more than other customers.
And she's no mug. There must be a scam on here.
But it can't be the same scam she's running with Slater, it's the wrong way round.
She's smuggling stuff out of China, he sells it on, he should be paying her.
Yeah.
Weird.
I don't know why you want me involved in this.
Cos you're an upstanding, honest citizen, and Jane knows that.
She'd think it was really iffy if I'd pitched up on my own.
Yeah, well...
You know what? I think she's away.
Good, can I go home then?
No, no, Brian look.
No-one ever stopped us getting into a target premises when we were in the Job, did they?
Does she know you've got a key?
Well, put it this way, I've never told her I haven't.
You can't walk into someone's house when they're away in the middle of night!
It's better than in daylight, isn't it?
This is illegal entry!
All my wives have said that to me at one time or another!
Now get in here, you look suspicious.
You really made a mess of the Fletcher case.
I thought you were on my side, Jack!
If the original inquiry had known it could have been murder,
and what the time of death was,
they might have cleared the whole thing up when the trail was fresh.
After all these years, we may never be able to prove anything!
I didn't do the post-mortem on Fletcher.
What?
Truth is, ten years back, I was hitting the bottle so hard,
I could hardly walk in a straight line,
let alone make an incision.
I left it to one of my students,
and gave him a wad of cash to write the reports.
And to keep his mouth shut, no doubt.
Why can't we have the lights on?
Same reason why we're whispering.
I don't like this at all.
Just keep looking.
Ow!
What? What the bloody hell's that?
That's it! What, that?
Yeah, brilliant.
It don't look like much.
No, I don't suppose those things in Slater's shop look like much before they were cleaned up and polished.
Put the lights on, Brian.
Why?
Oh.
Either of you two the householder? Not really. Is there a problem?
Report of two men seen entering the house.
Householder's on holiday, apparently. So you are?
Gerry Standing. Brian Lane.
Civilian Investigators with UCOS.
So you're saying you're here on police business?
We, erm... No, no, no, we're just, erm...
House sitting actually. The ex wife,
likes us to look in every couple of days to see everything's all right.
Got to help each other nowadays, haven't you?
It's the Big Society, isn't it? Yeah, massive.
I'll want your addresses.
Certainly, officer. Come on then.
Let's get it all locked up, nice safe and secure.
There you go, job done, no suspects on!
You've been a very good customer of Mark Slater's over the years, haven't you, Sarah?
We like fossil decor.
And my husband's encouraged me to buy for his corporate HQ.
It's in line with their branding.
In fact, you've been Slater's best customer.
Since he set up in business in 2002 you've put a cool half million his way.
If you say so.
My motto is, if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it.
Still, you must have some concern about value for money.
And you also must know you've been paying way, way over the odds.
Paying top dollar isn't a crime, is it?
No, but money-laundering is.
And that's what this looks like.
A means to pay Slater for services far beyond supplying fossils.
So what was Slater really being paid for, Sarah?
Bernard Fletcher died in 2001,
the following year the serious money began to flow.
Slater was being paid to keep quiet about the circumstances of Fletcher's death, wasn't he?
It's nothing to do with me!
It's your money.
It's my husband's money.
James is responsible for any money paid to Mark.
James wanted me to source fossils from Mark Slater.
He assured me that Slater would suggest an acceptable price.
That's all I know.
And you never queried that?
I was strongly discouraged.
By James and by Mark.
This is Tiffany Hayes, our in-house counsel.
My client would like it placed on record
he has gone out of his way to co-operate with your inquiries,
despite the fact that no evidence has been put to him
indicating his involvement in any illegal activities.
Is it true you asked Michael Ratcliffe to watch Mark Slater's premises?
Yes.
I wanted to know if my wife and Slater were having an affair.
Your wife has been making some very generous payments to Slater, isn't that right?
My wife has an irresponsible attitude to money.
You've been paying Slater off since Fletcher's death, haven't you? No.
Our information is that you have.
You're asking my client to comment on slanderous hearsay from his wife,
who is unstable and has a drink problem.
That's unreasonable.
Nevertheless, we would like him to make a comment.
I have no interest in the circumstances of Bernard Fletcher's death.
You've failed to establish that he had any relationship with my company.
You're just speculating, without offering a shred of evidence.
Bernard Fletcher sent you this e-mail some months before he died.
Where did you get this?
That's not the issue.
We've been talking to your technical people.
And they said the attachments are micrographs,
pictures taken on a scanning electron microscope.
What are they pictures of?
Foraminifera. A form of microfossil.
According to your earth sciences people,
they've undergone a process of discolouration and deformation
due to heating, during their history.
Now we're told that this indicates the possibility of oil deposits.
So why was Fletcher sending them to you?
You know Bernard had done research
in what was then Soviet Central Asia, in the 1980s?
This is before he switched his interest to fossil birds.
He revisited Central Asia in the late '90s.
By that time the local states had become independent of the former Soviet Union.
In the area where he had done his original research,
vast tracts of land were being acquired,
by a variety of Western companies,
talking about speculative resort complexes and holiday home developments.
Is that where you'd go on holiday?
Well, if you're interested in natural beauty, wetlands, wildlife, particularly birds.
Sounds very nice.
When Bernard came back,
he re-examined his old microfossil findings using more modern techniques,
and saw clear evidence indicating the presence of substantial oil and gas deposits.
He believed an oil company was buying the land, acting through proxies to keep the price down.
What oil company?
He didn't know, he was still trying to find out.
He sent me this as a campaign to persuade me the museum
should drop its associations with oil companies as a matter of principle.
And what was your response?
Sponsorship is our lifeblood.
I believed it would be catastrophic for the museum.
I told Bernard he would have to make a much stronger case before I could consider supporting him.
Basically, you kicked it into touch.
And then Fletcher was killed.
Well, in an accident. That's what we were led to believe.
Fletcher eventually works out who the oil company is that's buying up the land.
Mondial Fuel! It's got to be!
Slater's into Fletcher's e-mails.
He's got it in for Fletcher because he nicked his bird
so he's trying to get Fletcher the sack.
He grasses him up to Mondial Fuel.
Fletcher's killed, Slater gets paid off! It all adds up to me.
Great story. Brilliant work. Sorry to have to rain on your parade. That's all it is.
It's just a story, it's not a case.
It doesn't gives us who killed Fletcher, which is what we're investigating, remember?
Without Slater, we're cattle. No sightings then?
His description's been circulated, he's on all the watchlists.
No sightings, no withdrawals from his bank, no calls from his mobile.
Well, he's somewhere, isn't he? I don't know.
Maybe Mondial Fuel caught up with him and knocked him off. Solves a problem, and saves money.
Maybe somebody's looking after him.
Who? Sarah Winslow's showing no signs of sticking her neck out for him, is she?
Marie? Marie?
Marie's been covering up for him for ten years, she could be doing it now.
She's got a husband and two kids. What'll she say to them,
"This guy's my old boyfriend, he's coming to live in the basement?"
No, she wouldn't do that. Course not! Not in HER basement.
What do you mean?
Barry!
Can't talk now, lads. I'm on duty.
Your duty is to assist the police with their enquiries.
So, when Mark Slater worked here,
was he one of the people who dossed in the basement when he was having domestic troubles?
Well, I can't recall offhand. What's this?
Mind if we have a look?
Packed lunch.
You're a pub lunch man. I should know, I paid!
I'm economising.
I think Mark Slater's hiding out here somewhere. You're looking after him.
You're talking bollocks! No, Barry, we're talking wasting police time, obstructing an investigation.
Conspiracy? Always my favourite.
Bloody hell! Where is he, Barry?
Blimey.
Mark?
It's only me.
Brian.
He's definitely in here somewhere.
Mark?
Mark! Brian!
Come on, son.
We need to talk to you.
Strike!
You told Winslow that Fletcher was on to what Mondial Fuel were doing, didn't you?
Yes.
And then you killed him for them,
Winslow's been paying you off ever since, isn't that right?
No. I didn't know anything about the killing until it had happened. OK.
So what's your version of events?
Winslow asked me for a duplicate key for the backstage area, which I supplied.
So he could kill Fletcher?
We thought Bernard would be out the way, at the dinner.
Winslow trained as a geologist. He wanted to see what Bernard had found out. Next thing I knew,
Bernard was dead. There was nothing I could do about it.
Well, you did a little bit more than nothing.
You became an accessory.
You dealt with the murder weapon, didn't you?
He asked me to get rid of it, and I said I would.
But you can't just walk out the museum with an item like that,
the best I could do was switch round the labels.
And Winslow's been paying you off ever since?
Yes.
We have method, motive and opportunity.
James Winslow, I'm arresting you on...
Before you go any further I believe Mr Ratcliffe would like to make a statement.
I killed Bernard Fletcher.
But you weren't even there!
Fletcher was conducting a campaign of industrial espionage
and subversion against my company.
James Winslow provided me with a key to the museum's backstage area, where I hid during the day.
That evening, when Fletcher was at the dinner,
I accessed his office, to search for and destroy materials assembled by Fletcher to damage Mondial Fuel.
I was interrupted by Fletcher, who assaulted me.
In fear of my life, and acting in self defence
I struck him with a fossil bone I found on his bench.
I moved the body to the Dinosaur Gallery,
and I left the museum via the rear staff entrance.
I don't believe a word of this.
Winslow's offered you a massive bung to take the rap, hasn't he?
Could you do me a favour, Madeleine, and give me your expert view on this.
I'm not giving the museum first refusal, you understand?
I want to see what my options are like on the open market first.
But he'd like to know what it is.
You see, my guess would be
some kind of primitive echinoderm.
You know, like your modern sea cucumber.
Yes, I can see where you're coming from, but no, it's not that.
But it is a fossil?
Yes. It's coprolite.
Is it! Coprolite.
I own a coprolite!
So, between ourselves
could you give me a rough ball-park figure of what I might hope to get for it?
Someone with a scatological sense of humour might offer you a few quid to have it as a conversation piece.
A few quid? But it's thousands of years old!
Oh, yes, it's old all right. But not all that uncommon.
Coprolite is fossilised animal dung.
Shit.
Precisely.
Well, I don't want it.
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